As I limped into the office fresh from a Krav Maga beating, a coworker asked me exactly what the hell it is. After trying to explain this obscure form of martial arts, I turned to the Internets for more background.
Wikipedia offers this explanation:

“Krav Maga is an eclectic self-defense and military hand-to-hand combat system developed in Israel, which assumes no quarter, and emphasizes maximum threat neutralization in a “real life” context. It came to prominence following its adoption by various Israeli Security Forces.”

Another way to think about it:

“The pages other martial arts school tear out of their rulebook because they consider them illegal are standard operating procedure in Krav.” - Commando Krav Maga instructor

So, the first rule of Krav Maga is that the rules defy convention. By keeping the protocol so flexible, Krav Maga provides the training a person needs to survive a street fight, home invasion, or random beating. Unlike the controlled setting of a classroom or tournament, in the real world, the odds may be stacked overwhelmingly against a target. Punches, kicks and chokes are likely wild and poorly formed. Anything can happen. Anything does happen.

Also different from most other disciplines, a threat is a threat, no matter the source or gender. Therefore women and men train side by side and are treated identically by fellow students and instructors. Very equalizing.

The Western belt factory system that turned me away from martial arts in the first place works differently in Krav. Skirting the history of belts in the West for reasons of brevity, critics have long argued that belts earned in many US schools may not correlate to real world proficiency. In competition, after a good hit, the referee intervenes and the opponents separate. In life, the punches keep on coming. Now while there are belts or badges in Krav, they are completely optional. I’ll be opting out.

If you are studying Krav Maga, you will make contact and get hit. Everywhere. Night one, I was choked, hit in the biceps, chest, stomach, groin, ankle, foot, inner and outer thigh, shoulder and wrist. I tasted the mat several times. This morning I have bruises on my thighs and biceps, and tell-tale finger marks around my throat.

But I learned 8 different moves for clearing a choke hold.

And I can’t wait to go back Thursday.

The business of working through a bucket list has a big edge over most long term projects. Although the task seems daunting at the onset, it’s an open-ended process that allows almost limitless opportunities to get closer to what one wants through revision and reflection. That’s liberating in so many ways, and very different when someone else drives the agenda. It also naturally leads to more revisions–these in turn lead to further changes–the net effect of which can push the final delivery date out indefinitely.

I suppose I might have left well enough alone with the original draft. Certainly the list was as long as these sort of lists go and capture across section of activities and destinations.

But from experience, lists work best when I force myself to revisit them periodically. Letting just a few vines rot by neglect can taint the whole harvest. So after thinking about what I set out to do with the bucket list in the first place, and reading the items over one by one, some additions came to mind.

Additionally, also I wanted to track points where they had been some motion on my end. In these case, the item remains intact, but includes any relevant updates.

5) Write 5 novels < << In the middle of number two.

12) Ride in a hot air balloon. <<< Received vouchers covering a balloon ride for two as a birthday gift. In the next year, I just need to pick a day to make this happen. Looks like Fall 2008.

20) Become proficient at Krav Maga <<< Tonight is my first class. Proficiency takes about three to five years of study.

Since I'm going to Vegas for Spring Break in a few weeks, there's an opportunity at number 23 and 26 at once, with some slight modifications.

23) Spend 1 night alone in the Mojave desert. <<< Swapping this for a 6 hour ATV tour through the heart of the Mojave. I'll see more than at night and have some fun carving up the sand dunes.

26) Put a $100 bet on outside box black at Ceaser’s Palace. <<< I'll make the exact same bet in three weeks, only at the Luxor, which houses a newer and glitzier casino.

Number 27 and 28 are new.

27) Sketch a vineyard in Tuscany as part of a winery tour.

28) Stand center stage at the Theatre of Dionysos.

They play for keeps in Wisconsin. A woman jailed for not returning library books knows the struggle.

Irony: in checking my shelves this weekend, I discovered one book 21 years overdue, and another title 13 years late. Both are actually quite good reads, entertaining and informative. I’ve read them each several times. Still, that does not excuse my procrastination. I’m thinking about mailing them back with a short note and a check for replacement costs. That would one way to handle it. Maybe the right way.

But for now, there’s two states I’ll continue avoiding for fear of prosecution.

Life after being declared dead is never easy. Zombies know the struggle better than anyone. But if you need Social Security checks to pay the mortgage, or Medicare for insurance and the federal government says you’re dead, it’s almost impossible.

Just ask, Laura Todd.